Catriona Gray tweeted her congratulations to the newly crowned Miss Universe, Mexico's Andrea Meza, with a message that carries a deeper meaning for hardcore fans. It's a lesson in perseverance.
Gray, the 2018 titleholder, told Meza: "When it's your time, it's your time." Before reaching the summit of their pageant lives with a Miss Universe crown, the two nearly won the Miss World crown.
Meza was first runner-up in 2017 to Miss World Manushi Chiilar of India. She waited three years to join the Mexicana Universal contest, her country's qualifier for Miss Universe.
Gray finished in the Miss World Top 5 in 2016 and was in tears on stage after losing to Puerto Rico's Stephanie del Valle. The Philippines has not placed in the Miss World Top 5 since then.
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Gray often references her nearly impossible Miss World-Miss Universe crossover. In her final walk in 2019, she said: "To everyone with a dream, know that your dreams are valid, and on your path you are never denied, and only redirected."
Before the Filipina and the Mexican beauty queens victories, Namibia's Michelle McLean finished Top 5 at Miss World before winning Miss Universe in 1992. Both Gray and McLean were crowned in Bangkok.
Here's Meza on the Miss World stage in 2017:
Here's Gray at Miss World 2016:
Shortly after she was crowned Miss Universe 2018 in Bangkok, the Miss World Organization congratulated gray and went viral:
Well done, Andrea.
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